Hold Congress Accountable

About FreedomConnector

Find activists, groups, and events right in your own neighborhood. Join FreedomConnector to get involved and learn more about key issues threatening our economic freedom. Whether you’re looking for like-minded people, trying to boost your existing group’s impact, or simply trying to stay up on current events, FreedomConnector is the place to start. See what’s happening in your state today!

[Expanding Medicaid] avoids leaving Ohioans’ federal tax dollars on the table and keeps the federal government from simply giving them away to other states. FY14-15 budget highlights, 02/04/2013

Obamacare includes the promise of Medicaid expansion funding for the states that accept the law's broad new eligibility limits, but this promise is entirely open-ended.

There is no predetermined pot of Medicaid expansion money; every state complying with the Obamacare expansion increases the total amount of new federal spending.

Ohio's rejection of the Obamacare Medicaid expansion would not result in one more dollar going to any of the states choosing to expand Medicaid.

[Rejecting Medicaid expansion] takes $13 billion of Ohioans’ federal tax dollars out of our state and gives it to other states, where it will go to work helping to rev up some other state’s economy instead of Ohio's. "Protecting the Ohio Model," RedState.com, 02/06/2013 If we don’t do what we should do on Medicaid, they’ll be spending it in California. [...] We have an unprecedented opportunity to bring $13 billion of Ohio’s tax dollars back to Ohio to solve our problem. State of the State address, 02/19/2013

In March, Media Trackers asked the Kasich Administration to provide evidence supporting the governor's repeated assertions that Obamacare would bring Ohio "$13 billion of Ohio's tax dollars" which would otherwise go to other states.

I don’t want our dollars to be spent somewhere else. Because, you know, I worked in Washington long enough to know they don’t ever save anything. And secondly, their inability, their inability to solve a problem that ultimately will be resolved in a responsible way should not prevent Ohio from reclaiming our dollars to deal with our problem. Statehouse Obamacare rally, 07/09/2013 This is not about Obamacare. [...] Medicaid expansion is no different than the current Medicaid program, and to try to tie Medicaid to Obamacare, I don’t see the connection. Q&A with Statehouse reporters, 07/09/2013 Medicaid expansion is different than Obamacare. [...] what we wanna do is to be able to bring back $14 billion of our money, Ohio taxpayer money, to distribute to people who treat folks who are addicted, the alcohol and drug community organizations. 610 WTVN interview, 08/26/2013 It’s our money! This is not, like, somebody else’s money. [...] Bringing our dollars back and helping these people to get their lives back is so right. Cleveland Clinic speech on Obamacare Medicaid expansion, 10/18/2013 Chief Justice Roberts gave every state an opportunity to try to get federal dollars to improve Medicaid. [...] We get $14 billion of Ohio money back to Ohio to deal with some of the most serious problems. Meet the Press appearance, 10/27/2013 But there’s a big distinction between Medicaid and our ability to bring our money back to fix our problems, as opposed to a government takeover of the health care system. [...] This is about our money. Washington doesn’t have any money — I want our money back. O'Reilly Factor appearance, 11/15/2013 So now we have a little bit of money left over, because we were able to do some things to bring our money back from Washington to treat the poor. Year-in-review speech to Ohio Chamber of Commerce, 12/18/2013

Another interview has surfaced in which Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist whose bragged about being involved in writing ObamaCare, suggested that subsidies will not be available to consumers in states that don't set up health insurance exchanges under the so-called "Affordable Care Act."

Since the passage of ObamaCare in 2010, critics of the law have endured the criticism that we’re all about opposition, without providing constructive alternatives for health care reform. The truth is closer to the polar opposite – if anything, we suffer from a surplus, rather than a deficit, of comprehensive plans to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Americans already spend some 6 billion hours and $168 billion each year complying with a complex and onerous tax code. But ObamaCare is going to make tax filing even more of a chore for consumers who received subsidies for health plans purchased through the state and federal exchanges.

Cornell University has announced a $350 fee for students who don't enroll in the Ivy League school's Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), and students are pushing back against the administration, going as far as storming into the office of the school's president, David Skorton.

As the second ObamaCare open enrollment period came to a close over the weekend, more Americans learned that they owe Uncle Sam money because they received subsidies that were too great, in many cases because they had underestimated their income levels for 2014 when they applied for coverage through the health insurance exchanges.

With solid control of both the House and the Senate, one of the clearest mandates delivered to the Republicans in Congress was to repeal the onerous takeover of health care known as ObamaCare. This year, the new Congress has the greatest opportunity yet to fulfill that mandate – by using the budget process known as reconciliation. As millions of Americans are forced to pay a fine for not buying health insurance, and with millions more still struggling with high premiums and deductibles, there is no reason why Republicans should not use a tactic that can place a full repeal of the so-called “Affordable Care Act” upon the president’s desk.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments for the King v. Burwell case starting March 4th, with a decision likely to come down sometime in June. The Court’s decision will determine whether the IRS’ illegal implementation of ObamaCare subsidies to states that refused to set up insurance exchanges can continue. If not, the true cost of ObamaCare will be revealed to the American public, a cost that has until now been partially concealed by the IRS’ decision to circumvent the written law.

While the federal government often entices states to promote its agenda by promising “free” federal money for the states that adopt their programs, this money is never free, and always comes with strings attached. When the federal government offers “free” money for a program it is really just hoping to get the states hooked on the program before the giveaways disappear, much like a drug dealer who offers you the first hit for free.